Category Archives: Planes

I’m in the US right now, enjoying some American food and cheap electronics, so I’m catching up on pre-trip blog posts… lest you think I am still in Sao Paulo.

The other night we were all a little restless. Hubby has spoiled my son, by letting him stay up late and play with him. So the other night, when my son decided he was dead set on not falling asleep, we decided to go on a drive.

On our last little GPS nightmare, we noticed while driving on Avenue Bandeirantes that there were some side streets that looked right at the flight path entrance for Congonhas. So we sat and watched the planes land and take off.

Congonhas is a very interesting airport, it’s got a teeny runway as it’s in the middle of a city. In fact, if you pay attention, you’ll notice parts of the “runway” are actually integrated with the city. A large pole with lights on the corner of a gas station here or there. In fact it’s the 5th most dangerous airport in the world. There’s not a lot of room for error, since this airport is right in the middle of the city.

Many of the other “most dangerous” airports are in areas that are very cold and snowy, like Antarctica. But there were some with just short runways or bad design… like Gibraltar’s.

I had to head up to Beverly Hills… and as I have a kid, I had to take him with me. Since this trip was not paid for by my husband’s company this time, I didn’t have the luxury of traveling with an extra seat… just me, the baby carrier, and the wild little monkey. Oh how I missed my beautiful, lovely Sao Paulo. Yes, that’s right, after a week in LA, I wanted to come home.

The trip to LA, wasn’t too bad. I was lucky enough to have a bulk head seat, so I laid down a quilt and down went my son. The mid-flight turbuelence required that I pick him up and that did not sit well. But seriously, bulkheads are the way to travel. The trip back, I also got a bulkhead seat, and no turbuelence, and he slept like a dream. But you don’t care about the ease of bulk head seats do you right?

So let’s see, all of the things I love and hate about America.

Chicago has those new sanitary toilets that automatically change a plastic liner and those were pretty cool. LAX is a big, ugly, dirty mess and doesn’t have any such pretty toilets, so -1 LA

Am I lame because I took a photo of it?

United Airlines flight attendedants were pretty rude about letting me on the plane when boarding all of the mediallion/business class passengers. Whatever happened to letting women with children on first. I even explained that I was traveling alone, had a really heavy backpack, and was suffering from a case of food poisoning– still no go… in fact no-go rather rudely – 1 America – 10 United

The lack of a culture who appreciate babies – 1 LA + 10 Brazil The old gma on the plane from LAX was so cold to my son, and I could hear her grumbling to her husband about how annoyed she was we blocked the “natural light” from the window whenever I breastfed him. My son cried for the first time ever on a plane -repeatedly. The super nice Brasilian woman on the way home, smiled and made my son laugh and he was a dream. Shoot, even the German director who we flew up with from Sao Paulo was nicer than this old lady…and he’s a guy! She just gave that “I don’t like that you have a kid” vibe and my son was very perplexed by it.

All the freaking stop signs in Beverly Hills -1 for each one of those things LA

The lame LA driver who honked at me because I was turning left. If you have such a problem with left turns, then get rid of them like Brasil has – 1 LA

All the stupid people who want to turn left and make me have to try and guess if I should be in the right or left lane – 1 LA (irony I know)

Cheap baby stuff, peanut butter, maple syrup, and BestBuy +10 LA

The parking ticket I got in Beverly Hills for parking at 2am … so you know Beverly Hills is a no parking anywhere at night zone.. even if there aren’t any signs. I would give LA another minus, but Sao Paulo’s no parking signs aren’t much better. Zero

LA Drivers, who think they’re good, but all have their knickers in a bunch – 1 LA Even if everyone says Sao Paulo drivers are crazy, they are just some how all at the same standard, no slow-poke, crazy drivers here. If you are flying through the intersection, you offer a courtesy honk. There’s no doubt should I stop for that pedestrian… they have to watch for you. There’s no doubt, will this car try and squeeze in even though I have the right away… they know you have the right away, there’s no false niceties here in Brasil. And I like it that way!

I totally forgot how fancy the cars are here in LA. I guess I’d gotten used to the fleet of grey hatchbacks in Sao Paulo that I was finally awed by the fleet of porches and mercedes. +1 LA

My husband was in Brasil -1000 LA

On a separate note, only slightly related. Our flight from Brasil and on to LA was filled with Germany’s Next Top Model cycle 6 contestants. You know how they say babies like perfect faces…it’s true. My son seriously stared them down. Then again, my kid likes women 😉 On the flight from Chicago to LA I actually got an empty seat next to me, but again we were on the flight with models, and the one next to us was bringing back a head dress. They had done their shoot for Carnival in Brasil, and she said she just bought it and wasn’t the winner. I guess the winner got to ride one of the floats and wear the whole outfit. It hasn’t aired yet, so I couldn’t see who it was. She just slept the whole time, and my son may or may not have broken off a few beads. The model across the isle was much nicer, and kept smiling and my son… why couldn’t she have sat next to me? All she had was a book! Hope she wins, just for her being the nicer one, without the big headdress 😉

Beverly Hills Parking Tip

I stayed at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills. It’s one of those boutique hotels. All modern and trendy (the crib was completely made of metal… yeah clink, clink, clink is what I heard as the little beaver chipped away at the metal rails) and recently renovated. Recent renovations means your room smells like new carpet, paint and resin. Parking was $30 a night, so I opted to park on the street. I was usually out of the hotel by 6 am, and not home till after 11pm anyway. However, as I mentioned above, if you park between 2am and 5am, you will get a ticket. I managed to avoid a ticket the first night, because it turns out the Avalon hotel is right on the border of Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. My first night, I had parked down Beverly between Pico and Olympic. I didn’t get a ticket, as I guess I was on the “Los Angeles” side of Beverly (the street signs turn blue, and don’t have “Beverly Hills” on them). So that’s my tip, if you don’t mind walking a block.

Also don’t eat at Houston’s in Century City… I got food poisoning something wicked there… the worst sickness of my life ever. My little sister had to pack my luggage for me. I paid the baggage claim guy at LAX (who by the way was not so subtle with his “If you take care of me, I’ll take care of you”) to check me in at the counter, got LAX security to let me in the front of the line, and chugged Pedialyte and ate my son’s teething biscuits.

**Update** The LA County Health Department called me (I reported the food poisoning, because I’m like that okay?!) to report that they inspected Houston’s and they failed the inspection on the handling of their primerib meat… so yeah, it was totally their fault.